nigelparry.net: Teacher Support Network (winner, Charity Times' "Best Use Of The Web" award, September 2009!)

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Teacher Support Network (winner, Charity Times' "Best Use Of The Web" award, September 2009!)

Teacher Support Network consists of a group of independent charities and a social enterprise in the United Kingdom and the United States. The organization provides practical and emotional support to staff in the education sector and their families.

Above: The top of the site prominently displays the key services that the Teacher Support Network offers, from helplines to online coaching and an InfoCentre with over 1,400 factsheets relating to issues faced by teachers.

nigelparry.net consultants Ken Harper and Nigel Parry worked on the project, which offers a clean, professional and dynamic design delivered with a full set of viral tools, fully-compliant RSS feeds and Google sitemaps. The site was launched in August 2008.

"As a result of the relaunch, interactions with teachers online increased from 17,056 during the summer term 2008 to 26,719 in the same term in 2009 – an increase of 57 per cent."
— Teacher Support Network

In September 2009, this nigelparry.net website won the leading UK nonprofit magazine Charity Times' "Best Use Of The Web" award at its 10th annual award ceremony.

Charity Times is the leading business and management magazine for UK non-profit professionals. The Charity Times Awards continue to be the pre-eminent celebration of best practice in the UK charity and not-for-profit sector.

Presenting the award, judge and digital design agency Fortune Cookie Chief Executive, Julie Howell, commended the site’s interactive nature, content and production values as well as the fact it was produced on a modest budget.

Teacher Support Network aims to help teachers and their families regardless of age, length of service or union affiliations to improve wellbeing, quality of life and career effectiveness. Visit the Teacher Support Network website at http://teachersupport.info

Above: The homepage of the site with a Flash panel advertising the latest campaigns and information from the Teacher Support Network.

Above: Category page in the Welsh Language section of the website.

Above: Undertaking the Welsh language section of the website was a fun challenge. Welsh is an amazing looking language. Every part of the user interface has been translated.

Above: An article in the Scotland section of the site. The menus on the right of the site expand and contract contextually.

Teacher Support Network wins Charity Times web award

10 September 2009—Teacher Support Network last night won the Charity Times award for the ‘Best Use of the Web’ at the publication’s prestigious Annual Awards Dinner in London.

Both the nomination and win come as a result of the successes of the charity’s website, which was relaunched in August last year. The new site is full of content and enables visitors to access Teacher Support Network’s key services easily and quickly.

Above: From left: Hannah Essex, Head of Communications & Business Development; Julian Stanley, Chief Executive; Sally Baker, Client Experience Manager; and Andrew Lyons, Digital Media Manager.

As a result of the relaunch, interactions with teachers online increased from 17,056 during the summer term 2008 to 26,719 in the same term in 2009 – an increase of 57 per cent.

Presenting the award, judge and digital design agency Fortune Cookie Chief Executive, Julie Howell, commended the site’s interactive nature, content and production values as well as the fact it was produced on a modest budget.

Services available on the site include regularly updated news, useful information and the InfoCentres, which contain over 2,000 factsheets covering a range of issues, from advice on disruptive behaviour to tips on improving a teacher’s CV.

In addition, the site empowers teachers to establish contact with the charity’s professional coaches and counsellors via its Online Support Services.

The site also contains a popular online ‘Stress Test’, links to enable teachers to sign up for Teacher Support Direct, the charity’s weekly newsletter, and other useful information, such as the online Starting out Guide for Newly Qualified and trainee teachers.

The website is constantly improving and expanding. Since the award nomination, another interactive tool has been launched to help teachers look at the balance between a wide range of areas in their lives and help them improve their wellbeing. The ‘Wheel of Wellbeing’ gives teachers the opportunity to reflect on the state of their wellbeing and identify areas of their life they would like to change. Since its launch on the 26 August 2009, it has been used over 580 times.

Teacher Support Network Chief Executive, Julian Stanley, said: “We are thrilled to have won this award from such a highly-regarded publication as Charity Times. This is a fantastic achievement for the charity and a reflection of the hard work and innovative spirit of our team.

“Our online services are a fundamentally important aspect of our work. Interactions via our website now amount to over 90 per cent of the total across our group. We believe it is crucial for us to remain at the forefront of delivery via the internet in order to best serve the magnificent profession of teaching.”

Visit the Teacher Support Network website at http://teachersupport.info